Since its introduction by OpenAI in late 2022, ChatGPT has surprised the world with its capabilities. ChatGPT is defined as a conversational AI, which is an AI that is created in a way that it can carry on a natural sounding conversation with people. Conversational AI are trained to understand and then respond to a user’s prompts, but as AI are not able to (currently at least) have free thought like humans, they may run into difficulty with understanding and then responding to messages for a variety of reasons.
ChatGPT Tips
ChatGPT is constancy being updated, and with that comes changes with the under laying system for all conversations. Despite this, there are some general ideas that can help when you are talking to ChatGPT about any topic.
1. Be Clear and Specific
This may seem obvious, but having a clear message is important when you want to communicate anything to anyone, or any AI for that matter. When asking ChatGPT a question, make sure to only include the relevant information and remember that you can add more information in a follow-up question that will act as a re-creation of your original question and cause ChatGPT to generate a new response. If you are asking a question about a dog, think if the dog breed is important to your question. If yes then include it with your question, if not then excluding this fact can lead to a response more relevant to all dog breeds rather than to just one.
It is also good to keep in mind that information relevant to your daily life is not necessarily known by ChatGPT. If you and your friends have an inside joke about something, let’s say you and your recreational baseball team have a certain song you always play before a game. ChatGPT would not have this prior knowledge, and the question “Are there any remixes of my baseball team’s theme song?” would not yield any results. While the above example is obviously something requiring prior knowledge, not all cases will be as obvious, so it’s important to make sure you are always aware of this pitfall.
2. Break Down Complex Questions
The process of taking a large question and breaking it down into small bit sized chunks can help ChatGPT understand each part better and provide a more thought out answer. While this process will require multiple messages and take more time to get a response, the responses will paint a better picture of the topic at hand.
For example, the complex question of “What are the main causes of climate change, and how do they contribute to rising global temperatures? Also, can you explain the potential effects of rising temperatures on sea levels and weather patterns?” can be broken down into,
- “What are the main causes of climate change?“
- “How do these causes contribute to rising global temperatures?“
- “What are the potential effects of rising temperatures on sea levels?“
- “Can you explain the potential effects of rising temperatures on weather patterns?“
3. Don’t be afraid of Conversation
While ChatGPT is not a human, that does not mean it can not carry out a conversation. After your initial question, you still have the ability to send messages and ChatGPT will remember the past conversation and respond accordingly; these follow-up questions can lead to more insight about a topic. You can start off with a generalized question about a topic, then use follow-up questions to dig deeper into a part of the idea, or how that topic may interact with a different idea.
Personally, not too long ago, I used ChatGPT to learn about the Great Depression as I was creating a Game Design Document that was using the time period for its setting. I first started off by asking ChatGPT about a general overview of the time period to help familiarize myself with the culture at the time. Then later into the document’s creation period, I asked targeted questions about the world at the time, like the names of different kinds of bootlegged drinks. This process was carried out over the course of weeks, showing that time does not stop ChatGPT from answering any questions thrown its way.
4. Refrain from using Leading Questions
A leading question is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a question asked in a way that is intended to produce a desired answer“. These type of questions are very one-sided in human to human conversation and can unconsciously affect the course of a conversation. While ChatGPT does not approach a conversation like a human would, a leading question may push ChatGPT’s response into a different direction than you would like it to; thus generating a response that is less relevant to your question.
Let’s say someone engages ChatGPT with the question, “You are a teacher giving a lecture on the growth cycle of apples“. This question may be beneficial depending on your use of the response, but the word teacher can be associated with children as this term is closely related to elementary school. This connection may influence ChatGPT’s response to be less in depth and use simpler words, with the idea that school age children will need to understand the overall concept.
5. Refine your Questions
This tip can be seen as contradicting the above tip, but narrowing your question can help create a better response, but only if you need a narrow response. There can be many reasons that you need a narrow answer; for instance, you are a parent trying to answer one of your children endless question and the above tip’s example of “you are a teacher” may be useful for your case. The tricky part is to figure out when it is valuable to use a wide or narrow approach. While I can provide numerous amount of examples for both sides, the best way to learn is for you to start using ChatGPT and see the results of both approaches yourself.
6. Consider the Information Availability
Currently, ChatGPT can only access information from before September 2021; anything that happened after then can not be taken into account by ChatGPT. This can lead to a less than complete picture of a subject. If you are asking questions about recent events, you should look into any response you get and spend longer verifying your response is correct.
For instance, if you wanted to learn about Twitter’s history, there would be no mention of Elon Musk’s purchase of the company. This is because Musk’s acquisition process spanned over mid to late 2022 whereas ChatGPT only has information up to September 2021. When using ChatGPT, it is necessary to always keep this thought at the back of your mind, especially with recent topics. Don’t forget, you can always use Google to find out more information about something ChatGPT told you about.
7. Use External Sources
This tip ties in nicely with the above point. While ChatGPT is a powerful tool, it is not the only tool available; If you hired a carpenter to build a chair, you would be surprised if they only used one tool in their tool belt. You can use ChatGPT’s outputs for a wide range of purposes, but this can limit the impact of your intended use. Google can be used to gain additional information to help supplement or fact check anything before you use it for its intended purpose.
As there as been some controversy about ChatGPT and the validity of information it presents, you may want to use ChatGPT as a starting point on your quest for information. After you learn about the overview about a topic, you can then find other sources on the internet that dig deeper into the topic. The high level overview that ChatGPT provides you can be used as a glue to help you connect the other information sources together.
Conclusion
Although not all conversational AI are text based like ChatGPT is, these tips can be used for all conversational AI. Whether you are calling your bank or about to get a hold of customer service to return your recent online purchase, AI is slowly making its way into the current world. It is better to be prepared for this trend and learn to navigate it at its early stages. The alternative is to stumble around and get frustrated later in the future when AI takes over more interaction during daily life.
